


The Secret History of the Western Stars; or, the Travels of Yodit the Singer

by ManforallSeasons



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work, Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Gen, High Fantasy, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 08:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11573883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManforallSeasons/pseuds/ManforallSeasons
Summary: "It has come to my attention that there has been many-a confusion regarding the destruction of the Ashen Tower and the death of Queen Matilda. Seeing as I am partly, if not mostly, responsible for the events, I feel as though it is my duty to 'set the record straight', as it were. It is my hope that this book will serve as a both a report for the readers of today, and a history for the readers of the future, that these events may be properly recorded for posterity.Thus, here begins our story, and by extension, the story of the newest stars in the western skies."-Yodit of Aksum





	The Secret History of the Western Stars; or, the Travels of Yodit the Singer

**Chronicle of the Western Skies**

By Yodit Mhic Maíri

 

Foreward

 

               I am not a very good writer.

            Ironic, isn’t it? That I, who have lived my life chronicling and detailing stories, songs, and eddur, find myself unable to create my own. My life has been far from uneventful; I have travelled the known world twice over, I have traversed caverns and trapezed canyons. I have parleyed with dragons, gods, and kings (and, quite famously, the God-King of Dragons). I was there when the walls of Westkirk fell, I was there when the gates of Geshudaudozineth opened, and I was there when the secrets of the God of Monsters were laid bare and the Ashen Tower first burned.

            Yet, when I try to put words to parchment, I find myself unable to truly and honestly convey what _happened_.

            Heaven knows I tried everything. I asked colleagues for help. I studied books on literary form. I’m sure that poor May is reconsidering her decision to study at the college entirely. Yet I could not bring myself to create a work that does my companions justice and my colleagues service.

            And so, I have outsourced the work to the past.

            To explain what I mean: the events before, leading up to, and during the death of Queen Matilda, have left a long and winding paper trail, in the form of receipts, bills of sale, letters of marque, and, most frequently, personal entries from myself and my companions. I have taken what I could find, had them copied as dutifully as possible, and compiled them into something approximating a book.

            Is this a testament of my inclinations to sloth? No. The actual gathering of each individual piece was by no means easy: while my own journal and the expedition logs were readily available, Fen’s diary was no easy task to find, for obvious reasons, and I had to go through the (many!) bureaucratic motions with Tanwen’s Order to get ahold of hers. In all truth, the actual act of compiling this work is probably just as worthy of retelling as the work itself. Alas, I had not bothered to keep a journal this time around, so I’m afraid that this will have to suffice.

            It should be mentioned though, that not every piece will necessarily be written by either I or one of my companions. There is, of course, the occasional official document or business receipt, but, as I understand it, very few people have travelled as far as we did, and there are certain misconceptions about certain places and the people that live there that will confuse the reader if not corrected. As such, I have included certain academic and historical texts, to ensure that there is no ambiguity for the less-travelled reader. I understand that most who read this will not be academics, and I have tried to adjust the works accordingly. Each piece will be as topical as is reasonable, and has been selected either because it is easily accessible, the only piece available on the subject, or in one case because I owe the author a favor. You’ll know the one.

            All thing considered, I have nothing else too add, but I would ask a favor of the reader, whether they be of a less charitable disposition, of a zealous mind, or otherwise. Everything here was written as we experienced them, and I have not edited, abridged, or paraphrased anything. While I have tried to order them according to the chronology of events, I have not otherwise changed the writings. I understand that some things written in here may not be agreeable to some readers, and that others still may be off put by certain descriptions of events. Most of these works, especially those written by myself or my companions, were not originally intended for publication. Here there are expressions of thought and outbursts of emotion, of many-a-variety. Expressions of ignorance and brilliance in equal measure, and of rage and love the same. While it might be easy for a reader, blessed with the privilege of living after these events, to scoff at, or even deride, our decisions, I would ask for a certain charitability from them: I know that many have thrown the label of ‘adventurer’ at either myself or my companions, but understand that our ‘adventures’ were more comedies of error than anything else. I am an anthropologist first, a Scholar of Aberfith second, and ‘Yodit the Singer’ a distant third, and while I understand the desire to project fantastic and familiar narratives onto events that are nigh-mythical already, it should be understood that we are people: we eat, we drink, we defecate, and most of all, we make mistakes. When I ask for charity from the reader, I ask that they understand these things; that they understand that in reading this, they will not only be reading our proudest moments, but our most shameful as well, and still many other moments that cannot be easily categorized as either.

            All said, I pray that, even if this compilation becomes maligned and discarded by the whims of public opinion, that some future scholar will see it and take these writings into consideration when compiling his own history of events. Then, even if we should be hated and despised, it will not be because the record is inaccurate. That history be well-preserved is enough for my mind’s comfort.

           

            I leave this book in dedication to the Scholars of the College of Aberfith and the Mages of An-Yang, to my companions, and, of course, to my dear wife and companion, Mairi. Without them, this very book could never exist.

 

-Compiled in the 23rd year in the Archmagistry of Yodit of Axum.


End file.
